Arthur bigger July 4 threat

Hurricane builds in size, strength as it traces East Coast

Associated Press

Associated Press

Published 10:36 pm, Thursday, July 3, 2014

Nicole Specht, and and Ryan Witman, pack their Honda CRV heading back home to Lancaster Pa., before dawn on Thursday, July 3, 2014, during a mandatory evacuation, in Rodanthe, N.C. Arthur strengthened to a hurricane early Thursday and threatened to give North Carolina a glancing blow on Independence Day, prompting a stream of vacationers and residents to head home from some parts of the state's popular but flood-prone Outer Banks. (AP Photo/Jerome Bailey Jr.) ORG XMIT: NCJB101

Rebecca Sirkel plays in the surf with her dog Jack as Hurricane Arthur approaches the coast Thursday, July 3, 2014, in Oak Island, N.C. Southeastern North Carolina remains under a tropical storm warning and a hurricane watch. Outer rain and wind bands have been moving across the coast since daybreak. (AP Photo/The Star-News, Ken Blevins) ORG XMIT: NCWSN102

Rebecca Sirkel plays in the surf with her dog Jack as Hurricane...

Peter LeWando puts plywood sheets over the windows of the apartment where he lives over some shops in Avon, N.C. on Thursday, July 3, 2014. Hurricane Arthur is forecast to pass by Hatteras Friday morning. The island is under mandatory evacuation orders. (AP Photo/The Virginian-Pilot, Steve Earley) ORG XMIT: VANOV102

Peter LeWando puts plywood sheets over the windows of the apartment...

A steady stream of traffic, mostly vacationers, heads north on NC 12, the main road on Hatteras Island, N.C., on Thursday, July 3, 2014. Hurricane Arthur is forecast to pass by Hatteras Friday morning, the island is under mandatory evacuation orders. (AP Photo/The Virginian-Pilot, Steve Earley) ORG XMIT: VANOV101

A steady stream of traffic, mostly vacationers, heads north on NC...

Vehicles travel across the Thomas Rhodes Bridge as rain falls early Thursday morning, July 3, 2014 in Wilmington, N.C. Residents along the coast of North Carolina are bracing for the arrival of the Hurricane Arthur, a category one storm. (AP Photo/The Star-News, Ken Blevins) ORG XMIT: NCWSN106

Kite boarder Pete Nero secures his kite as darks clouds and rain move in on the north end of Carolina Beach, N.C., Thursday, July 3, 2014. Residents along the coast of North Carolina are bracing for the arrival of the Hurricane Arthur, which threatens to give the state a glancing blow on Independence Day. (AP Photo/Wilmington Star-News, Mike Spencer) ORG XMIT: NCWSN104

Kite boarder Pete Nero secures his kite as darks clouds and rain...

Clouds and rains move in as beachgoers leave Freeman Park at the north end of Carolina Beach, N.C., Thursday, July 3, 2014. Residents along the coast of North Carolina are bracing for the arrival of the Hurricane Arthur, which threatens to give the state a glancing blow on Independence Day. (AP Photo/Wilmington Star-News, Mike Spencer) ORG XMIT: NCWSN105

Clouds and rains move in as beachgoers leave Freeman Park at the...

Kite boarder Pete Nero secures his kite as darks clouds and rain move in on the north end of Carolina Beach, N.C., Thursday, July 3, 2014. Residents along the coast of North Carolina are bracing for the arrival of the Hurricane Arthur, which threatens to give the state a glancing blow on Independence Day. (AP Photo/Wilmington Star-News, Mike Spencer) ORG XMIT: NCWSN103

Kite boarder Pete Nero secures his kite as darks clouds and rain...

Carol Palmer of King George, Va. loads a car with her family's belongings as they prepare to leave Hatteras Village, N.C., on Thursday, July 3, 2014. Hurricane Arthur is forecast to pass by North Carolina's Hatteras Island Friday morning. The island is under mandatory evacuation orders. (AP Photo/The Virginian-Pilot,Steve Earley) MAGS OUT ORG XMIT: VANOV103

Carol Palmer of King George, Va. loads a car with her family's...

This is the Weather Underground U.S. national forecast for Friday, July 4, 2014, Hurricane Arthur will be off the coast of North Carolina, producing showers and thunderstorms from the Mid-Atlantic to the Northeast. Showers and thunderstorms will be possible along the Gulf Coast. The Great Lakes and West Coast will be mainly dry. (AP Photo/Weather Underground) ORG XMIT: NY4

A strengthening Hurricane Arthur forced thousands of vacationers on the North Carolina coast to abandon their Independence Day plans while cities farther up the East Coast rescheduled fireworks displays threatened by rain from the storm.

After passing over or near North Carolina early Friday, Hurricane Arthur was expected to weaken as it travels northward and slings rain along the East Coast. The annual Boston Pops Fourth of July concert and fireworks show was rescheduled for Thursday because of potential heavy rain from Arthur, while fireworks displays in New Jersey and Maine were postponed until later in the weekend.

Forecasters said Arthur has been upgraded to a Category 2 storm with winds of 100 mph or more by the time it passes early Friday over or near the Outer Banks — a 200-mile string of narrow barrier islands with about 57,000 permanent residents.

"We don't know for sure if the exact center of Arthur is going to pass over land or not. The chances have been increasing for that to occur with the last couple of forecasts. But even if the exact center doesn't go over you, you will experience impacts tonight. The weather is going downhill in North Carolina, even as we speak," said Rick Knabb, the director of the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.

The islands are susceptible to high winds, rough seas and road-clogging sands, prompting an exodus that began Wednesday night.

Among the tourists leaving Hatteras Island were 27-year-old Nichole Specht and 28-year-old Ryan Witman of Lancaster, Pa. The couple started driving at 3:30 a.m. Thursday on North Carolina Highway 12, the only road on and off Hatteras.

"We were just saying we were really, really lucky this year that the weather was so great, and then this," Specht said as she ended a two-week vacation.

Many island residents, meanwhile, decided to ride out the powerful storm rather than risk losing access to homes connected to the mainland by a highway prone to washouts.

"All the people that I know who live here are staying put," said Mike Rabe, who planned to stay in his Rodanthe home despite an evacuation order for surrounding Hatteras Island.

The departures of vacationers left things "pretty dead" on Hatteras Island during the normally bustling run-up to the Independence Day weekend, Rabe said. He spent Thursday running errands and helping neighbors prepare their homes for the storm.

Before the storm hit, tourism officials had expected 250,000 people to travel to the Outer Banks for the holiday weekend. Gov. Pat McCrory sought to strike a balance between a stern warning to vacationers and optimism that part of the busy weekend could be salvaged.

"Of course, this holiday weekend, the July 4th weekend, is one of the biggest weekends for coastal tourism in the state, and we anticipate a beautiful weekend after the Tropical Storm Arthur or the Hurricane Arthur is out of North Carolina," he said.

Arthur, the first named storm of the Atlantic season, prompted a hurricane warning for much of the North Carolina coast. Tropical storm warnings were in effect for coastal areas in South Carolina and Virginia and as far north as Cape Cod, Mass. On the Outer Banks' Ocracoke Island, accessible only by ferry, a voluntary evacuation was underway. Officials said ferry service would end at 5 p.m.

Among those leaving the island was the Unmussig family of Midlothian, Va. They cut their vacation two days short when they left Thursday morning in an SUV towing a trailer filled with bicycles and kayaks.

"Our cottage was right on the sound and we didn't want that back-current surge coming in and flooding us out," said Donald Unmussig, 50.

"I just didn't want to risk getting caught there. I have to work Monday morning. I didn't want to be late," he added. "We just decided to cut the losses and go home and not have to deal with the problems."

Thursday evening, Arthur was centered about 35 miles east of Cape Fear, N. C., and 140 miles southwest of Cape Hatteras and moving north around 15 mph with maximum sustained winds of 90 mph.

If Arthur makes landfall in the U.S. on Friday, it would be the first hurricane to do so on July Fourth, according to National Hurricane Center research that goes back to the 1850s.

Among the residents planning to ride out the storm was 79-year-old Tom Murphy, a retired Presbyterian minister who has lived on Hatteras Island since 1986. "There are some concerns," he said. "But they are not enough to outweigh the desire to be here when it's all over. The awful part about leaving is the wondering what's happening at your house down there when you can't get back."